Going into Seed

What's so bad about a lawn taking a long time to get out of the "going into seed" stage? I'd like to Primo some lawns, but some are in this stage. I've heard that if you apply Primo to a lawn in this stage, it will take a long time for it to come out of it. Under normal circumstances, does anyone know how long on average it takes a lawn to get out of this stage? Thanks in advance for any advice.

I wasn't sure if the fact that they were in this stage would mean it wasn't a good time to Primo them, or not. Tremors (Steve) made mention of this in one of his threads a while ago. He said something about using Primo on a lawn that was in this stage.

Below is a post where Steve explained about seed head formation and primo use. Boy, that guy knows his stuff!

Vic

Gibberelic acid causes plant cells to elongated at often rediculous rates. GA inhibitors decrease the size of the cells themselves. GA does not influence tiller, rhizomes, stolons, or other shoots. It appears as though when plants aren't wasting energy going verticle, that tillering is increased. I've noticed an increase in the distance that turf creeps into beds following Primo. NOT the height of the grass or the quantity of leaves removed when edging, just how far the tillers go. For this reason, I don't recommend Primo to reduce trimming. Embark is fine for this so long as the reduced turf quality isn't objectionable.

There is some good data out there in google-land on fertility & PGR's. I don't change my program at all. Some folks reduce total N by 15-30% when using PGR's. I feel this is OK if adequate N was in the program (for the intended use) in the first place.

Older PGR's worked by limiting the number of cells produced, you know, like any other stress. This would often cause discoloration of the turf. So iron was added to counteract the effect. I've used Primo for 5 years & have never seen this happen. In fact, the turf gets greener even without the iron. This due to the same amount of chlorplasts becoming concentrated in the same number of cells, that just happen to be much smaller.

Rate will influence the duration of time of effect from about 3-6 weeks in my experience. At gross over application (2.5 oz/M) perennial Ryegrass testplots responded with very little discoloration & remained supressed for 8 or more weeks. (we lost irrigation after that & thus lost track of result)

I only add the iron because I always add chelated iron to every tank mix I apply here at the house for the color. You can't get cheaper, more environmentally freindy, & consistant greenup at any price. The key is to not get "hooked" & neglect the N. This is easy to do when the color is allways good. Eventually turf density will suffer if all you apply is Iron. I've seen it happen.

The effect of this mix become very obvious during periods of excessive rainfall. Untreated lawns get that "leggy lime green" look & who knows how much leaf spot.

The best test is in your own yard. But just treat half of a test plot. Then do another one at a different rate. That's the only way to see the effect for yourself.

Two important points. Don't treat the poorer quality cultivars while they're into seed head formation. It will take a lot longer to get them out. Treat before & after the usual seed push for the best results. I also wouldn't treat any turf that has significant foliar turf disease (red thread, dollar spot, etc) since this too will take longer to grow out.

I agree, since you're supressing the growth, that any disease or other concern will take longer to grow out. However, if you were to cut the grass and then treat the area with Primo, the grass will still be in "seeding" stage, but you shouldn't see the seed heads since it will take longer for that "section" or seedhead to grow back out again.

Am I wrong? I suppose that if the Primo wasn't quite consistant when applied, you may get a rougher looking lawn since you'd have more widely scattered seed heads around.

You'll know common Kentucky Bluegrass seed stalks when you see & touch them. They're half as thick as a pencil & very rigid. Treat one of these lawns while it's in flower & it will still look better & you'll remove fewer clippings. But walking on it barefoot won't be very pleasent. Raising the mower post treatment will insure some foliage is left above the lighter colored stalk. This is the most common consumer complaint anyway, so I'd say to go ahead with the plan if you're in control of the mower height.